Gotye? How do you pronounce that? Got ya? No, it's "Gaultier", like the designer. He made it up. His real name is: Wouter de Backer. His parents are Belgian and they moved to Melbourne when he was two.

And, don't tell me, he's a YouTube sensation? Exactly – and he's had more than 50m hits already. He's taking over the world with the sad and catchy "Somebody That I Used to Know" – it's gone triple platinum in Australia.

Imagine if YouTube hits were album sales. Back in the olden days, he'd have been… Actually, he's not doing too shabbily. The single has sold 1.5m around the world and gone to number one in five countries. Now Gotye has his sights set on the UK. If all goes to plan, he'll have a number one UK hit today.

What does his music sound like? His vocal has been compared to Sting – he's got that raspy thing going on – but overall it's gentle electropop: lots of bleeps and twangs and careful xylophones.

He says: "It took me six months to write that song, and I really didn't think it would be a hit, but it has obviously resonated with people."

We say: "Somebody That I Used to Know" is 2012's "Someone Like You" by Adele. By November it'll start grating, but for now it's lovely.

"Somebody That I Used to Know", taken from the album Making Mirrors, is out now on Island